Restoring manual sort in iphoto

Manual sort and restore manual sort are grayed out on my dropdown menu. How do I restore these functions?

There are times when these options are not available, including Smart Albums, folders containing Smart Albums, and Last Roll. Also, look at the little calendar icon at the bottom of the iPhoto window. If there is a tiny blue dot on the calendar then it is active, meaning you already are in a chronological search and Manual Sort is not an option. To exit, click on the calendar to make it pop up and click on the x to turn it off.
If you are not in any of these situations, then go to Users/(your account name)/Library/Preferences and delete the preference file com.apple.iPhoto.plist. Sometimes this file gets corrupted and you can be stuck. After deleting it you will want to reset your Preferences in iPhoto if you're not using the default settings.

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Any way to Restore Last Manual Sort Order or Prevent from being Overwritten accidentally?

     Help!
     I'm constantly accidentally overwriting painstakingly created manual sort ordering (sometimes hours but more often months of accumulated work) in folders with files numbering up to 1,000, when i, however breifly, switch to another sort ordering (size, date modified etc) to check something, immediately forget that i'm in another sort order, and, unthinkingly (actually i guess i'm thinking of a lot of other things) drag a file to another position, this immediately destroys any past manual sorting i've established, overwriting it with this new inadvertent manual ordering.
     I've tried CommandZ (edit undo) but that only undoes my last rating or labeling, i've rushed to force quit Bridge through the activity montior hoping i will catch it before its overwritten, but obviously i am not as fast as a computer, and i don't think this has ever worked.
Is there any way or any script someone has written to formally save a manual sort order? Is there anything i've missed to attempt restoring it? Has anyone, repeatedly foiled by this, written something that would give a warning and require confirmation say for instance, if i tried to drag or move a file while in another sort ordering (this seems like something that should have existed the minute the opportunity was given to create manual organization). Would anyone be willing to?
     Seriously, me forgetting almost every time isn't going to change and, more vexingly, it's even happened when i didn't mean to move anything but fumbled momentarily while in another sort order. I think most people might forget because (in the context of computing) we are conditioned to expect a warning if something we have just created is about to be written over or discarded, and since there is no option to formally save a manual ordering we have just created.
     Also, if this was in the real world, moving a single file would not reshuffle everything on your desk. If i had the option to formally save a manual organization i would NOT forget to do this and would use it, as i've wished for one every time spent a while rearranging files. Knowing how easily all the hours (much less months and years of cumulative work) of organizational work can be accidentally lost makes working within Bridge unpleasantly anxious.
      I'm literally willing to do anything including installing some sketchy 3rd-part scripts (though honestly i have no idea what that means or how to do it). I extentively use and rely heavily upon this function so this is a fairly serious Achille's heel. It's like watching your incredibly important meticulously constructed house of cards collapse with a careless but innocent sigh, or like having the equivelent of a not even charming cat dance across your keyboard during a live concert, etc etc....
     Also it is not usually appropriate, given the context, to batch rename everything to preserve a manual ordering w sequence numbers, etc. Often the filenames are considerably (but necessarily, to connote important differences) long already, and when i have to rearrange things in the future would have to do that each time, etc, etc, making for even more unwieldly filenames that didn't have any substantive information at the beginning. I'm looking for a way to make this function (manual sort ordering), well, more functional, secure and stable, the workarounds i've considered cause too many additonal problems.
     Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer, and as this is my first attempt to use the forums as i live on a boat with no regular net access, would appreciate any forum etiquette corrections, and advance apologies for any misspellings, dyslexic and spellcheck does not seem to work in this interface. next time will edit in external wordprocessing program beforehand,
          li'l mc szpf
     PS i'm on a 27" mac w CS4 Design Premium, w up to the minute OS (10.6.8) and Adobe software updates installed recently (i do not often move the monster but this week was housesitting w net access, so she has had all recommended shots and vaccinations....)
     PPS I know most of y'all might be running the newest and the latest of everything, but, i'm fairly certain this is still a problem in recent versions as this has happened to me at school where all the macs are running cs5. Though if it's been addressed somehow in cs6 would update entire suite just to fix this one problem in Bridge. I've tried many searches and found nothing relevant or wouldn't bother the considerable expertise and resources of an official forum, was extremely hesitant to ask (feared getting snapped at for unwittingly broaching forum etiquette) but it is truly the bane of my considerable Bridge existence, so was willing to risk the imaginary censure and opprobrium....
Message was edited by: PECourtejoie

That is a good question, to do this requires two functions and a restart of Bridge all done automagically
Copy and paste the script into ExtendScript Toolkit
This gets installed with Photoshop and can be found:-
PC: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Utilities
MAC: <hard drive>/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Utilities
Start Bridge
PC: Edit - Preferences - Startup Scripts
Mac: Adobe Bridge menu - Preferences - Startup Scripts
At the bottom click the "Reveal Button" this will open the folder where the script should be saved.
Close and restart Bridge.
Accept the new script.
To use:
Tools - Backup Manual Sort
This will backup the hidden manual sort file .BridgeSort to .BridgeSortSave
Tools - Restore Manual Sort
This will copy the .BridgeSortSave back to .BridgeSort and will close and restart Bridge so that the manual sort is restored.
if( BridgeTalk.appName == "bridge" ) {
var backUpManSort = new MenuElement( "command","Backup Manual Sort", "at the end of Tools" , "backupms" );
var RestoreManSort = new MenuElement( "command","Restore Manual Sort", "at the end of Tools" , "restorems" );
backUpManSort.onSelect = function () {
var fileSort = new File(app.document.presentationPath +"/.BridgeSort");
var fileSave = new File(app.document.presentationPath +"/.BridgeSortSave");
if(fileSave.exists) fileSave.remove();
fileSort.copy(fileSave);
fileSave.hidden=true;
RestoreManSort.onSelect = function () {
var fileSort = new File(app.document.presentationPath +"/.BridgeSort");
var fileSave = new File(app.document.presentationPath +"/.BridgeSortSave");
if(!fileSave.exists){
alert("No backup file exists");
return;
app.document.sorts = [{ type:"string",name:"document-kind", reverse:false }];
if(fileSort.exists) fileSort.remove();
fileSave.copy(fileSort);
fileSort.hidden=true;
app.document.chooseMenuItem("mondo/command/new");
app.documents[0].close();
app.document.sorts = [{ name:"user",type:"date", reverse:false }];
Hope this works for you.

IPhoto album slideshow will not play in the manually sorted order.

iPhoto Album slideshow will not play in the manually sorted order.

Use a regular slideshow created by "File > New Slideshow". These will play manually sorted. The instant slideshows cannot be played in a manual sort order.

Trying to make a book - iPhoto changing the order of my manually sorted album. Help?

I'm trying to make a book from an album.
I have manually sorted the photos in the album and wanted autoflow to fill the book in.
However, when I create a new book from the album, iPhoto seems to re-order the photos by one of the other options (eg: by date.) If I change that sort option under view - sort, and switch it to manual, it wants me to manually re-sort based on the previous setting. I have already done my sorting in the album. Is there a configuration I can do that will get iPhoto to recognise that manual album order?
(iphoto 11 v9.2.1)

The only solution I've seen reported is to change the dates of the photos using the batch change command with a increment so the date sort will be the same as your manual sort - you can search the forum for one of these posts - and I do not remember how they proposed to undo the date change
LN

IPhoto manual sort, not in events or albums.

I'm running Mavericks on MBP, I would like to manually sort my photos in iPhoto in order uploaded. Not in events, in photo view where you can see all your photos. I do not want to organize an album. I cannot drag and drop photos in order. Manual sort is grayed out, I cannot change this. Past answers to this question suggest if start manually moving things then the option will become available. I cannot manually move anything, it just won't respond. Help please.

You can't do what you want. The Library (whether in Events or Photos view) cannot be sorted manually. If you want to use manual sorting you must use Albums.

Manual sorting in album in iPhoto 11 resets itself when I close iPhoto. Any suggestions?

I'm using iPhoto 11 and am trying to combine photos from three different cameras (so slightly different date/time stamp). I have copied all photos into an album, then sorted by date. Because of variation in date/time I need to sort manually to combine all pics from same activity. So after sorting by date I set view to sort manually. This worked just fine until I closed iPhoto and the manual sorting I had done was lost. Any suggestions?

from three different cameras (so slightly different date/time stamp)
Have you tried to adjust the time for the photos from the different cameras?
You can create three smart albums with the rule "Camera model is" to separate the photos from the three cameras in albums.
Then select all photos from one of the cameras and use the command "Photos > Adjust Date and Time". Now you can shift the time of all photos by the same amount, so that the dates in your cameras are perfectly in sync.
If you get the times in sync you probably need no longer to sort the albums manually, but the sorting should stick, when you close iPhoto.
Try to repair the iPhoto library with the First Aid Tools.
Press and hold down the alt/option key ⌥ and the command keys at the same time and launch iPhoto. Keep holding down both keys until you see the First Aid panel. From the panel select to "Repair database".

IPhoto 11 video and manual sorting..

Hi all. I was fortunate and went through the upgrade without any issues. Everything went smooth. However I have two issues after the upgrade - and still after updating to 9.0.1.
Videoclips: When playing a slideshow the videoclips from my camera are blue colour only. All colours are fine in thumbnails in iPhoto and when playing the clips separately.
*Manual sorting*: Has been totally messed up in some of my albums. Sorting by date works fine but the manual sorting is what I want and what I spent many many hours on to perfect my visual presentations. That work seems to be lost now.
I guess I have been lucky compared to the rest of you, but it seems like Apple has - one more time - released software without properly testing their new stuff.
Sad but true...

Create a new test library, import several photos, put them in an album and see if you can sort them manually. If you can this points to a damaged library.
If you can't sort in the test library log into another user account on your Mac and try the test there. If you can't then it seems a reinstall of iPhoto is warranted. To do so you'll have to delete the current application and all files with "iPhoto" in the file name with either a .PKG or .BOM extension that reside in the HD/Library/Receipts folder, reinstall iPhoto from the disk it came on and apply the latest updater.
If you can sort in the other user account then your account appears to be the culprit. It could be a preference file other that iPhoto's that's causing the problem. Post back with the results and if you need to test your account I'll give you directions.

IPhoto: How can I sort photos within an event? I can't figure out how to activate the Manual Sort.

iPhoto: How can I sort photos within an event. I can't figure out how to activate the Manual Sort button.

Only albums can be sorted manually. Events can only be sorted automatically according to one of the predefined settings "Date, Keywords, Title, Rating".
If you need a manual sort order, selectaall photos in the event and create an album: File > New Album

How do i keep the original manual sort of my photos that i had in previous library after a rebuild in iphoto library manager?

how do i keep the original manual sort of my photos that i had in previous library after a rebuild in iphoto library manager? and keep the events in the same order with blank events also

Not sure you can.
Library Manager creates an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.

Iphoto 08 not allowing manual sort

i can't seem to get iphoto to let me sort my photos manually. the option is there under the "view" menu, but it won't highlight or allow sorting manually.

Manual sort is not a feature of the event view of the library - in Photo view with event titles not displayed you can
Or you can manually sort in albums
LN

IPhoto '11 -- manual sort of event photos is not available

Hi,
When viewing an Event, for some reason, I am unable to drag and drop to sort the photos. View > Sort Photos shows Manually and Reset Manual Sort are grayed out.
I am able to do a manual sort of the Events themselves in the Events window, but when I open an Event and view the photos in that Event, I can't reorder them. I am reading the Help file, and I can't see why this isn't working.
Doing a manual sort in an Album works by dragging and dropping.
Thanks for any help.
John

That's correct. The manual sort applies only to the Events themselves, not their photos. Within an Event photos can be sorted by Date, Keyword, Title or Rating. Not manually. Send a feature request to Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphoto.html.
If you want to sort the contents of an Event manually drag the Event into the Album section of the left hand pane to create an Album of that event. Then you can use a manual sort.

Customized contact sheets from manual sorted iPhoto 7.0.2 albums.

I manually sorted photos in my iPhoto '08 album and want to print contact sheets showing the photos in this sorted order. Everything is working fine choosing the preselected contact sheet with 3 rows and 4 lines i. e. 12 pictures on each page. But when trying to customize the preselected contact sheet (for I want 4 rows and 5 lines) the manual sorting is gone and instead the pictures are sorted otherwise (by name I guess). Does anyone has any idea to solve the problem?
(I use Tiger 10.4.10, Mac Pro QuadCore, iPhoto 7.0.2)

Gunther:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Have you tried dragging the photos in the contact sheet customize window to arrange them as you want? It works that way for me.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

In Iphoto my manually sort is grayed out. I am unable to rearrange my photos. Any suggestions??

In IPhoto (Events), my "manually sort" is grayed out. I am unable to rearrange my photos. Any suggestions??

Hello Terence,
Okay I will try reformating the camera's card. However all is well when I export photos to my iMac at home or onto my iPad.
If your suggestion does not work should I try reinstalling iPhoto from the iLife disk? If so, how do I go about doing that or is there a website somewhere explaining this?
Regards,
Tom

Sorting within iPhoto albums: eliminate carryover from prior manual sorts?

I am working with a large series of photos from a recent vacation, arranging the images for captioning and sharing as slideshows. I've pulled the images over to new albums, one per day, and would ideally sort them once by date, then change to manual sort and adjust a few images' position in the queue. But when I switch from date sort to manual sort, the images immediately revert to a relatively random-looking order that I think must be the order in which they were edited and then pulled into the finishing album. Since some of these albums include several hundred photos, the idea of starting over with completely manual sort of all of the images is VERY painful. Sorting them by date and then copying and dragging the sorted images to a new album, and then resetting to manual sort, reverts them to the same order they had in the previous album.
Any suggestions for how to fix the date sort some way, then do a fresh manual sort that leaves the date sort as my starting point?
(and is the question clear?)

Another thank you.
I could not figure out how to manually movie my photos & videos. "Manually" & "Reset manual" were greyed out in Smart Albums. So I deleted Smart Albums and just made an "Album." "Manually & "Reset manual" magically appeared un-greyed.
Took me awhile to figure out that you can only manually move the last picture or video.

Iphoto manual sort

I am unable to manually sort my photos within an event. The options to Sort Photos > Reset Manual Sort or select Sort Photos > Manually are gray.

Longer explanation:
Events are organisation for those who can't really be bothered. They are automatic - based entirely on Date and Time the camera records the photos as taken.
You can move photos between Events, you can Merge Events, you can Rename them and sort them in various ways except one: You cannot manually sort in an Event as Events are all automated.
If you want to manually sort in an Event then you've outgrown Events as an organising tool. Now it's time to look at albums (Where you can manually sort) which are much more flexible than Events as an organising tool.

Restoring manual sort in iphoto

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